Meandering Velonauts

 ”My relationship with Lance is non-existent. Even if he is a great champion, I have never had admiration for him and I never will,” – Alberto Contador (2009)

While he may win some bike races, quotes like this is why he will never be a great champion. Humility, respect, and gratitude are all part of professional cycling. Without the the efforts of your teammates, you are nothing. Which is what Alberto is now… nothing.  Truly Déclassé.

Took a different route to work today. This time the route was a combination of roads and paved trails (no dirt roads). The first 10 miles and last 5 miles were on heavily traveled public roads.  The middle section was on the familiar Cherry Creek Trail.

I typically avoid the paved roads, opting to ride dirt roads from my home to the cherry creek trail. But we’ve had tons of rain these last two nights, and I wanted to ride my road bike.  I reviewed the route by car last night on the way home, and was confident on my route selection.

I left this morning a little later, waiting for the temperature to warm up a hair and roads dry. This however placed me on the roads with all of the angry morning commuters racing to work.

The first bit of the journey was a shoulder-less 4 lane road with a high curb and no sidewalk. It was up and down but the grade allowed me to keep my speed around 26 Mph. I was riding on a combination of fear and nerves. 

Once past this tricky section the next road was beautiful. Wide 6′ shoulders and the lanes were very wide. The cars were flying around 60 Mph, but my speed was a steady 24 Mph with plenty of room between me and cars. Mostly downhill this was pure joy to ride. Max speed hit 45 Mph at one point. Yeah!

I ducked on the the Cherry Creek Trail at the mid point of my commute. I had avoided two dirt road sections and one swamp. My average speed stayed around 20 Mph on Cherry Creek and C470 trails.

I decided to avoid the dirt paths of Willow Creek, by cutting trough Inverness Park. I nasty little section of roads that twist through a business park near my place of work. Lucky the speed through many of these roads are only 25 Mph post speed limits. I hammered through them at 25+ Mph jazzed to be keeping up with traffic.

I splashed into the parking lot nearly 25 minutes faster than normal. My average speed was 22 Mph and my max speed was 45 Mph. I enjoyed my fast zip into work this morning. I felt great today. I’m looking forward to the ride home.

The issue of cyclist safety on the road is important to us. Many times in the past we’ve been victims of motorists ignorance, rage, and maliciousness.  We’ve been lucky all of these years, but many cyclist per year are not.

We support been a supporter of Bicycle Colorado, and organization dedicated to improving cyclist safty here in Colorado. They champion the slogan “Share the Road” and have lobbied our state goverment for laws protecting cyclings on the roads.

Well there is a new organization out there raising awareness of cyclist safty. The organization is called Yield to Life. Started by David Zabriskie, a professional cyclist, who has been hit by motorist 3 times in his career. All three times have occured in the United States. Please support cycling awareness by visiting and donating to his foundation. http://yieldtolife.org/support

After much anticipation Trek’s mysterious http://getyourwow.com promotion in fact is their big summer sale from July 17th until 26th. In addition you have a chance to win one of three Astana Tour de France Madones.

I thought the timing couldn’t be more perfect, so I called a local participating Trek store. I spoke with one of the sales guys, who was familiar with the sale. I told him I wanted a 2010 Project One Madone with LIVESTRONG paint. Nope not part of the sale. DAMN IT!

I asked what they charge for the bikes? He said MSRP for Project One bikes. He tried to sell me a 2009 5.2 they had in store, and would cut me a deal on. No chance… I want the LIVESTRONG model.

He seamed to have a little insight in how Trek has ran their Project One programs in past years. They have never added or removed a paint option from Project One during the model year. This is good news, as I was worried that the LIVESTONG paint was a limited edition or limited time offer. But he doesn’t think so.

So I’m back to waiting until November.

Stage 10 of the Tour de France introduces a throw back to the old days of no race radios. Race radios allow team managers, following in team cars, to communicate with riders ahead in the peloton. The UCI, working with Tour organizers, have banned the use of these radios, in an attempt to make the race more exciting. The question on everyone’s mind, “is this a good idea?”

The PRO for banning race radios is that team managers have satellite TVs, scanners, spotters, etc.. at their disposal. The moment race radio or TV picks up on the status of riders, managers relay the information nearly instantly to their riders up the road. Managers can change team strategy in real time based on this new race information. Without this information on-the-fly strategy will come more from the rider, and less from the mobile war rooms. Smaller teams, without so much technology, will be able to react to the flow of the race on equal terms as the larger teams.

The CON of banning race radios is much stronger. First radios allow managers to relay instructions to team members anywhere on the road. They can communicate instructions to riders in breakaway 15 minutes ahead of the peloton. At the same time they can safely communicate with team riders still in the peloton. The alternative is flash backs to the mid 80s, when team cars frequently raced around the peloton to relay messages to riders. To overcome the problem of breakaway and peloton riders, teams will have more cars on the course. That means more potential for cars hitting riders.

Another reason race radios should not be banned is riders can communicate with mechanics regarding mechanical issues, like flat tires. Mechanics can prepare tools, parts, etc.. ahead of stopping for the rider. This makes repairs (considered not part of “racing”) faster and makes the race about riders, not gear.

So will the lack of race radios have an impact on stage 10’s results? Only a minor one. The stage is nearly dead flat, and the sprinters will control the race, hoping to launch toward the line in the last 1 km. What this will do is make things more tricky, and could result in more accidents and loss time due to mechanical problems.

Lance Armstong, while joking today with Frankie Andreu said,

I’m bringing my phone. I’ve got my blackberry. I’m ready.